Paris

Our weekend in Paris was truly fantastic. With a little advance planning, we were able to take in most of the sights we had the desire to view, and enjoy much of what the city is famous for. I want to spend more time there someday, but for having only a weekend, we saw a lot.
We used the metro for transportation. It was a little grimy, but some of the most eloquent things we found were actually underground. I almost got closed in the door of the metro at the Louvre trying to take a picture of a man playing an accordion in our car. The music was so beautiful, and it put us in a great mood! The people who were on the platform behind us came rushing over to see if I was bleeding, apparently getting closed in a Paris Metro car door is not something that happens everyday there, lol! Leave it to me!
As we walked up under the Louvre, there was a group of ten or so men all playing stringed instruments, it was so beautiful with the sound echoing off the walls of the underground passageways.
We walked through the mall under the Louvre first. It was truly a beautiful mall, with incredible window displays. There were many things I wish I had brought home with me, but well, suitcase space and budget constraints prevented me from going too crazy! We did buy some charm bracelets for Jason's daughter and his neice, they were too pretty and perfect to pass up.
We toured the Louvre rather quickly, we had a few things we wanted to see but we didn't really want to spend all day in a museum, even if it is the Louvre!
We saw the Mona Lisa, and I got a great picture of it, which was high on my priority list. I also finally got to see Winged Victory in person, it is way larger than I imagined, but exquisitely detailed!
On the way out I stopped and mailed a post card of the Mona Lisa to my son. interestingly enough to mail a postcard you have to enclose it in an envelope, which kid of defeats the purpose of having it postmarked at the Louvre, doesn't it?? Anyway, it was still a cute idea and my son loved it when he recieved it in the mail!

Honeymoon in Paris

I leave for Germany in a week! I am meeting my husband there, and we are planning to spend our belated honeymoon (we got married December 17th), in Paris, France. I have spent the greater part of this past week listening to the beautiful voice of Edith Piaf. She is so soulful and mournful, and yet so beautiful.

                     The Voice Of the Sparrow / The Very Best Of Edith Piaf (Domestic Only)

Chalk Board Labels

My design style is a mix of country cute and modern functional. I love to have things neat and organized, but I like them to be pretty as well.
To that end, Laura (a friend of mine) called me about an exciting deal on Facebook where I could get a $20 gift card to Cherry Hill Designs for just $5! She told me they had chalk board labels on there, and told me I would probably love them!
Well, she was totally right! I got them today, and I do love them!
Here are some pics of what I have used them on so far:

Our dog treat jar by the front door

Random kid stuff bins

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Free Challenge Butter!!

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We love free butter around here!!!

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I LOVE FREE STUFF!!!!

How I protected my cd collection for $3

I have a few cds still lying around. Yes, I know that most people use i-pods and digital media these days, but, just in case some rabid media executive comes calling at my door to accuse me of illegal downloads or whatever, I maintain my old cds. These are not simply cds, but licenses. Every time I have ever purchased a cd or dvd, the elevated cost wasn’t simply for the plastic disk or the case, it was the cost of the license to play the media. Some of my disks have deteriorated, some have gotten scratched or dented or cracked, but in the end, they are still my evidence that I purchased those licenses, and I keep them around as such.
My problem was, how do I store them, and prevent them from getting any more damaged? My solution?
I went to the dollar store and found two nice plastic boxes and a roll of saran wrap. I wrapped each cd in the saran wrap to keep them from getting scratched up bumping against each other, and then I placed them in the plastic boxes. You can see my lame picture of the result below, it isn't really glamorous, but hey, it works and it doesn't take up much space!